Advertising Agency | Rapid City, SDhttp://lefthandadvertising.com
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:01:55 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.3.11Advertising Agency supporting Hill City, SDhttp://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/advertising-agency-supporting-hill-city-sd/
http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/advertising-agency-supporting-hill-city-sd/#commentsWed, 10 Aug 2016 15:51:23 +0000http://lefthandadvertising.com/?p=1736At Lefthand Advertising, we not only strive to support the local businesses in our city but also those in the surround area including Hill City, SD. One of our favorite small towns in the Black Hills, Hill City offers a wide range of amazing businesses. From local coffee shops, boutique stores, to wineries and breweries – how could you not want to visit ofter and support the great town.

Whether we’re developing a new website, creating a digital marketing strategy, designing a logo, or producing a short video commercial; we want to make sure that the Hill City, SD businesses know we’re knocking on their doorstep and ready to assist them however possible. With the tourism season always busy in Hill City, we also want to ensure every business possible is generating new customers and clients throughout the year – and with that comes great advertising!

When Robert Herjavec wanted to start his own company, people discouraged him. They said he couldn’t do it. He had zero experience, he didn’t have a business degree and he knew nothing about running a business.

The headstrong Shark Tank star investor steamrolled ahead anyway. In 1990, he launched his first company, BRAK Systems, which he later sold to AT&T.

“I only knew that I loved what I do and how to work hard,” Herjavec told Entrepreneur. Today, Herjavec Group, his Toronto-based Internet security firm, has grown from three workers in 2003 to 220 employees strong, and it’s on pace to bank $150 million in revenue this year, according to the company.

Related: Shark Tank Star Robert Herjavec on the 5 Worst Sales Sins

Herjavec’s commitment to taking the risky entrepreneurial leap — despite the naysayers, and he had plenty of them — has more than paid off. So what if he didn’t have formal training? He also didn’t possess the needed marketing know-how, at least not at first and not all on his own. But that was fine by him.

“Like many entrepreneurs, we didn’t really know what to do at first,” he says. “As a startup, it’s almost overwhelming. I learned that’s where a third party comes in to help you. They take the marketing pressure off so you can do more of what you love to do — your business.”

Countless marketing agencies the world over aim to do just that. One such company is Deluxe Corporation. Herjavec announced a new partnership with the Shoreview, Minn.-based firm last week. Together, they unveiled a series of small-business marketing videos. The short “Behind the Business” vignettes feature the multi-millionaire celebrity entrepreneur alongside a few of the companies he’s invested in on Shark Tank.

image credit: Herjavec Group

The videos share tips on how to best market your startup. We picked Herjavec’s brain for a few, too. Here are his top five:

1. Target your customers where they hang out on social media.
Simply having several social-media accounts for your company isn’t enough. To fully leverage the potential for acquiring new customers on social media, you must also market to them where they live online.

“With Facebook and other social platforms, you can have highly targeted marketing campaigns to attract customers who are interested in the product or service that you have,” Herjavec says. “Find the user groups they meet up in on social and win them over there.”

Related: Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec on Great Business Pitches and Why Sales Reps Need to Be Chameleons

As an example, he points to The Natural Grip, a fitness product startup he invests in. The company makes special gloves for people who do Crossfit, gymnastics or lift weights. “That community, athletes, really likes to hang out in certain places on Facebook and we went there to find and engage them,” he says.

Marketing direct to potential customers on active fan pages and buzzy user groups within the popular social-media mecca turned out to be a smart move. It gained the sporty startup a grip of new customers, according to Herjavec.

2. Don’t be afraid to sell direct online.
Even as the ecommerce economy continues to surge, many small businesses old and new still don’t have shopping carts on their websites. Herjavec says failing to sell directly online is “foolishly leaving money on the table.” He believes that if your customers trust and believe in your brand, they’ll buy what you sell on the Internet.

Of those that do offer online shopping, the feature is often set up so poorly that it frustrates and confuses customers. The result: Potential buyers end up abandoning their shopping carts altogether and the sale is dead on arrival. “It quickly becomes such a hassle to go through with the transaction that they say ‘forget it,’” he says. “Don’t let that happen.”

If you don’t know how to set up an online shopping cart, Herjavec suggests leaving it to the pros. “There are lots of great companies that can handle it for you.”

3. Use stunning imagery to grab customers’ attention.
“People are very busy and the first thing that hits them in any marketing communication is a really pretty picture, not words,” he says, “and I know that sounds really trivial but that engages people and gets them to look at more of your outreach.”

Herjavec’s onto something here. Visual imagery is often more immediately engaging than monotonous walls of text, as the brain is widely believed to processes visuals thousands of times faster than text. Images transmit messages in an instant, not only making your marketing messages pop, but also rendering them more memorable, too.

4. Market to your customers how they like to be marketed to.
“Your customers have a certain amount of information they’re willing to absorb about your brand and certain ways they like to receive that information in over a certain amount of time,” he says. It’s your job to pay attention and learn how they are best marketed to.

How much information can they handle with each outreach? How do they prefer to be communicated with (via social-media updates, e-newsletter, text notifications, etc.)? How much communication is too much and how much is not enough? If marketing email subscribers start dropping off, find out why and adjust accordingly.

When it comes to Herjavec’s own contact preferences as a consumer, he feels being marketed to by email once every couple of weeks is more than enough. “I’m a big car guy, so a lot of the car companies market to me, but they’ve learned when enough information is enough for me and that’s once or twice a month,” he says. “Once a day is too much.”

5. Hire a marketing agency so you can do more of what you love.
Outsourcing your marketing needs to an agency dedicated to taking your brand awareness to the next level frees you up to get back to business. If you don’t have the budget to hire a marketing firm, Herjavec suggests partnering with someone you trust who has successfully marketed their own business.

Whatever you do, he says, don’t take the whole job on yourself, not if you don’t have the experience to back it up.

Web hosting company 123-reg effectively deleted some of its customers’ websites, according to the company’s support page. It was unclear how many of the 1.7 million sites hosted by the United Kingdom-based company were impacted by the error, which occurred during server maintenance, however the BBC reported the company said it was a “small proportion.”

“We can conclude that the issues faced have resulted in some data loss for some customers,” the company said in a statement, according to the BBC. “The fault was limited to 67 servers out of 115,000 across Europe. … We are investigating the restoration of each VPS [virtual private server] on a case-by-case basis and are working individually with customers to keep them informed of the website recovery process.”

Virtual private servers are cheaper than dedicated servers and can host a number of websites, making them especially affordable for small business owners.

The host did not immediately return an email from ABC News seeking comment, however 123-reg’s support page notes the company is communicating with customers as they try to salvage their data.

]]>http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/web-host-accidentally-deletes-websites/feed/0Tips and Tricks to Improve your Websitehttp://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/tips-and-tricks-for-generating-website-leads/
http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/tips-and-tricks-for-generating-website-leads/#commentsTue, 08 Mar 2016 21:18:02 +0000http://lefthandadvertising.com/?p=1577Many small business today are finally embracing the internet and creating a website but unfortunately many are also DIY building them. It is a great cost saving idea but know that Weebly, Wix, Squarespace, are all ‘rental’ website builders – similar to leasing a vehicle but without the ability to purchase. Most businesses that try these website builders out ultimately end up hiring a professional because of improper design, not being optimized, development limitations and most importantly – never being updated on a weekly basis. Don’t sink to the bottom of Google! Your website is the bread and butter of your business online, put your best foot forward and invest in your future!

Below are 10 things that you can do to improve your website & increase the leads it generates:

Whether we’re developing an online advertising campaign, designing a new website, creating a fresh new logo, or optimizing your website to reach more people on search engines – we have the abilities to assist all businesses in the Custer, South Dakota region. Being locally based in Rapid City, we enjoy the drives to our clients locations throughout the Black Hills as the scenery is truly amazing..

With the digital age among us in advertising, we’re a proud agency that supports the businesses of and around Custer, SD! Big or small, no business should be without a proper web presence even in small town South Dakota.

Custer’s tourism season is a proven time of year where businesses need to put their best foot forward and reach as many customers as possible.

A mobile responsive website shrinks and expands based on the width of the computer screen or mobile device. Have you ever been on a website with your computer and then visited it on your phone or tablet and the text is too small, maybe only 1/4 of the page shows, or it simply doesn’t work? We have experience in developing websites for Bed and Breakfasts, Retail Shops, Law Firms, Breweries, and more!

Would you enjoy being on the first page of Google, organically, to boost your business and ultimately increase your revenue? A well developed website itself can get your started on the right path, but a fully optimized website will take you above and beyond your competition! Being on the first page of search engines is every businesses goal, let’s get you started today!

From logo design, print ad spot creation, to custom graphics, contact us today! With industry leading software to flowing ideas over coffee each morning, we create eye catching advertising collateral. We’ve worked with an array of clients from small boutique shops, realtors, law firms, to nationally known breweries – let us take your print ads from good to great!

Advertising Management

Paid Advertising is a fantastic form of advertising to get instant exposure when your business needs it the most. Whether you’re wanting to begin or optimize a CPC (Cost-Per-Click) campaign with Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, or…. dozens of other website – here at Lefthand Advertising, we take your business and make it ours. When you succeed, we succeed!

]]>http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/advertising-agency-supporting-businesses-in-custer-sd/feed/0First Western Federal Savings Bankhttp://lefthandadvertising.com/clients/first-western-federal-savings-bank/
http://lefthandadvertising.com/clients/first-western-federal-savings-bank/#commentsMon, 11 Jan 2016 18:24:31 +0000http://lefthandadvertising.com/?p=1487www.MyIRALender.com approached us with a website that was in much need of SEO as well as Google Adwords needing managed. After setting a solid long term plan, we jumped right in and are currently in the process of assisting them to rank well organically while maintaining a solid presence through Google Adwords until those results are achieved.

First Western Federal Savings Bank specializes in Non Recourse Loans – loans that are taken directly through your personal IRA for real estate transactions.

]]>http://lefthandadvertising.com/clients/first-western-federal-savings-bank/feed/04 Trends That Will Shape 2016http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/4-trends-that-will-shape-2016/
http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/4-trends-that-will-shape-2016/#commentsSun, 03 Jan 2016 01:22:28 +0000http://lefthandadvertising.com/?p=1478It’s that time of year again, and I’m not just talking about the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping and ringing in the New Year. I’m talking about the thrill and stress of reflecting on one year and planning for another.

For marketers, it’s crucial to spend time reviewing data from 2015 and attending strategic planning meetings to build momentum for 2016. But it’s also important to consider marketing trends and forecasts that may impact your team’s plans. Are experts predicting any major shifts in the industry over the next 12 months?

Here are four changes marketers will encounter in 2016:

1. Digital and mobile will no longer be standalone efforts.

Heading into 2016, marketers must jump on board with the notion that digital marketing and mobile marketing do not exist. It’s all just marketing. Seventy-three percent of U.S. households own a computer with an Internet connection, and 68% of Americans own a smartphone. This means your company presence should be equal parts digital and traditional and automatically optimized for mobile.

Prospects must be exposed to your brand via as many touch points as possible. And although a digital strategy should be part of your overall marketing plan, you should still focus on the specific channels your target audience frequents. For example, if your customers are mainly males over the age of 55, emails and traditional advertising might resonate better, whereas millennials are more likely to notice a sponsored social ad.

The key is to understand that a marketing strategy must include digital and mobile components. There should be no more negotiations about additional budget dollars for digital and mobile marketing—they are now one with the marketing budget. The sooner businesses and marketing departments can unify all areas of marketing, the quicker revenue will increase.

2: Data analysis tools will become more sophisticated.

Over the past couple years, a lot of marketers have been using business intelligence (BI) tools to gather important data insights that help them make better strategic decisions, scale and improve marketing efforts, and increase their bottom line. But mining, analyzing and understanding mounds of campaign data can be tough. Many marketers use multiple data analysis tools, which means they are faced with a lot of cluttered data to sift through and organize.

In 2016, BI tools will come to maturity, and more will be developed that both aggregate and analyze the data available. This will lift a weight off many businesses and marketers who need just the essential information about their customers to make real-time decisions about their marketing strategies. These more sophisticated tools will give marketers all the details they need to quickly customize their marketing for different target audiences.

Let’s face it: A prospect’s journey is no longer linear or funnel-like, but rather multi-stage. Consumers need many interactions with your brand, via a variety of mediums, to convert to paying customers. This means 2016 will be the “Year of a New Marketing Game Plan.”

Marketers will need to dig into data to evaluate the success or failure of various efforts and eliminate those that have been unsuccessful. To do this, you’ll need to figure out the best way to populate your sales funnel with more and better quality leads.

For instance, you might try centralizing your lead capture and putting metrics in place (like lead-to-sale conversion rate) that allow you to pinpoint your best strategies and scale them for more profitable lead capture.

4. Advanced CRM tools and features will emerge.

According to a 2015 Lead Nurturing Benchmark Study from DemandGen Report, 42 percent of marketers have been implementing lead nurturing tactics for more than two years. In 2016, these marketers will be looking for tools that help them better qualify leads and ramp up their nurture efforts. In particular, marketers will be looking for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools and integration that provide detailed information about where the best leads are coming from.

In the coming year, more tools will develop functionality to address the data loss that many businesses experience. New features and integration will allow marketers to track lead sources and see that information in a sales CRM. This will help marketers better scale their highest performing campaigns, and it will bridge the gap between marketing and sales teams.

At Lefthand Advertising Agency, we specialize in all things digital from SEO, Paid Advertising, Social Media, Email Marketing, Website Development, and more! To get down to business, 2015 has become the “Make it or Break it” year for websites! Do not let the below facts alarm you too much.If you don’t have an advertising team, we can be just that at a fraction of your in house cost! No taxes, no insurance, no desk space and no extra computer expenses! We can even meet with you on a weekly basis at your business to stay 100% transparent and cohesive!

It’s not just about being online any more, it’s about being online correctly.

Check out the goodies below!

SEO is becoming more and more important! Don’t ignore it any longer! Get your website optimized for local organic traffic. (free traffic from search engines when someone types in keywords) If you type into Google, SEO in Rapid City, who do you find? We know SEO! (Did you see ZachDosch.com? Yep, that’s me too!)

Your website NEEDS to be mobile friendly! Google released a huge breaking update back on April 21st! If your website is not mobile friendly or optimized, it will begin to precede those that are on mobile searches. This is astonishing because over 60% of all Google searches are performed on mobile devices. Do you want to miss out on over 60% of Google’s searches? Another survey recently suggested that nearly 80% of all websites are not mobile friendly! Get mobile optimized and be in the top 20% of websites online!

Social Media is becoming increasingly expensive to run Paid Campaigns. but can be successful if performed well. We’re suggesting to use Paid Ads more appropriately around large campaigns to get the best ROI possible! Social Media is still a wonderful place to create a community around your business! Organic reach is just becoming more and more limited now around 3-5% of your followers on Facebook. That means if you have 1000 followers on Facebook, on average only 30-50 will see each post unless it’s viewed through a friend’s like, comment, or share. DON’T boost your posts with a few dollars – you need to directly target your audience!

Have you heard of the term “Big Data”? As you probably figured out, yes its BIG! Big Data is large data sets that can be analyzed via computer programs to reveal trends, patterns, interests, etc within your target market’s behavior online. This gives us Advertisers the ability to dig down to your core market and only advertise to them. The digital age isn’t about blasting your business to the general public, we find your core client and get you the best investment possible! We’re still all about frequency, just smart frequency!

Did you know that digital advertising is much less expensive then Traditional Advertising on Billboards, TV stations, Radio, and others? Many traditional advertising rates run anywhere from $15-$60 CPM. (CPM is the cost per thousand times an ad is viewed) Online, we successfully run campaigns that average between $1.50 – $4 CPM! Online is targeted directly to your target market in real time! Imagine getting 5x more exposure or simply cutting your costs down!

When you create a new page on your website for either a new service or a blog article, make sure each web page answers a questiona potential client might type in a search engine. Always update your content each month and remember Content is king… Content is King! Did you know that companies who blog a dozen times a month are likely to get 5x more traffic then those that don’t? Truth!

Get a professionally developed website! This does not include getting an account on Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Jimbo, or one from the Yellowpages. I’m sorry but the DIY sites are only limiting. The hard truth about these ‘DIY website builders’ is that you’re renting your website. You’ll never own it, you’ll never have full control of it, and you’ll always be at their mercy. I’m not here to talk your business down if you have one of these DIY sites, you are ahead of many businesses without a website. I’m just suggesting it’s probably time to upgrade before problems arise. A professionally developed website includes hosting that you own, a domain that you own, databases that you own, full control, and more! Many people believe a professional developed website is too expensive but that’s not true as long as you’re getting a fair price! It’ll probably be cheaper then your accumulated monthly fees from the above mentioned sites throughout a year or two! The only recurring expense if you update and maintain it yourself is hosting and domain which can be as low as $100/year.

Remember, your website is your online storefront and for some business, your only storefront. Don’t cut corners and so put your best foot forward! Internet activities need to be viewed as an investment and not an expense.

If your still reading, I truly appreciate your time. If you have any questions regarding the updates from Google regarding Mobile websites or simply about digital advertising and how your business might be able to leverage it. Please feel free to reach out at anytime!

With a request to place an Ad spot in a Nationally distributed magazine, Jelena knew she had to put her best foot forward. Working directly with us throughout the process, we were able to develop a beautiful ad spot that not only portrays her business but also her jewelry.

]]>http://lefthandadvertising.com/clients/hart-sense-designs/feed/0WordPress Website Designhttp://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/wordpress-website-design-rapid-city-sd/
http://lefthandadvertising.com/recent-news/wordpress-website-design-rapid-city-sd/#commentsSun, 19 Apr 2015 23:40:37 +0000http://lefthandadvertising.com/?p=681We are a proud and successful WordPress agency in Rapid City, SD that develops custom WordPress websites! From eCommerce based websites integrated with WooCommerce to sell 1 – 5oo products or a simple 5 page brochure website for your local church group or restaurant. We have the expertise to develop a WordPress based website specifically for your needs! Whether you need a WordPress website designed from scratch or with elements from a previous website that isn’t as robust as WordPress, give us a call. We’d be more then happy to talk with you about your project. We develop, design, customize, and optimize WordPress websites.

With over 7 years of WordPress experience we have worked with an array of businesses! Many people under estimate what WordPress is capable of – some not even realizing that many websites that they may visit daily are developed through WordPress. Below are a few popular websites you may have visited that are WordPress based.